Making Hay While the Sun Shines

I've certainly learned that you've got to have brains to be a farmer! First of all, there's got to be a method for the madness. Farmers seem to work non-stop. There is always soemthing to do on the farm. Since everything is right outside your front door, then it's easy to be overly committed. Ja-Ja decides what she will be doing for the day based on the color of the moon in the morning. Chérif told me that her madness is based a theory by a German named Steiner (or maybe Schteiner, I don't know). Many other farmers use his theory as well. I'll definitely look into it more soon, but it's very interesting, even somewhat mysterical. Secondly, the farmer should probably be a mechanic, haha. Even most organic farmers depend on machinery. I guess that shows how industrial we have become. Two of Chérif's machines have broken down in the past few days. Both are for cutting and gathering hay. One got fixed because another farmer was watching nearby when it broke and he came over to help. Thank God he was there! He even stayed for the rest of the evening just in case we needed help again. What great solidarity and teamwork in the farming community!

Speaking of hay, that has been the focus for the past few days. The sun has finally been staying around and the storms have stayed away. All of the farmers in the area are cutting, gathering, stacking, and storing the hay. The whole family has been involved here! I have been raking hay mostly so that the bailing machine can get to it easier. I have also been turning hay with a pitchfork in a smaller field so that it can dry faster. While gathering the haystacks, I helped load them on a trailer, organize them, rid on top of them up to a storing building, and then throw them off to be stacked inside. My back hurt a bit and my arms got pricked a lot from the tough ends of the hay, but I felt so good being able to help. This was productive exercise! I also got to work on my tan some more, hehe. I got my first feelings of really feeling like a farmer girl! I almost felt like I was on the prairies of central USA. It probably smelled the same at least!

There is a new WWOOfer volunteer here from Japan! Her name is Nowko. She speaks English alright, but is learning French for the first time. I have been providing a lot of interpreting and translation services. Hurray! It's good reinforcement that reminds me that my French is getting better and I am hopefully on my way to becoming bilingual. Nowko is extremely polite and friendly. She studied in college to be a dietrician and she is very interested in medicinal herbs. She is always curious and anxious to learn. It's great to learn from her to about Japan. For example, she said that Starbucks is everywhere and a common snack to buy on the streets of Japan are rice balls filled with cooked tuna! I love her passion for knowledge and healthy way of looking at life. She always makes me smile more!

Even though she doesn't know much about soccer, she came with me to Chérif's parent's house to watch a soccer game. The UEFA Cup is going on now. This tournament involve many teams from around Europe. I think that 2 games are played everyday. Italy has already been knocked out, and Poland beat Germany! It's very exciting. Try watching if you can!

I've still been eating and drinking merrily here. We ate fresh fish fillets from the Mediterranean for the first time. It was a lot like tilapia. We have also had more potatoes in honey, steamed green beans, ground beef patties with rice, roasting chicken with baby potatoes, vegetable stew, and more. I southern French specialty is a spread made of cod and oil. It is so good on hearty bread! It is made in Portugal, too, but they ate potato to the mix, too, I hear. We are always eating salad with are meals still, with a homemade vinegarette. The berries are getting very red and ripe now, so Ja-Ja made a berry cake. I ate it with mango ice cream! I also bought some chestnut spread and chocolate spread from the store. They are very unique to Europe, I think. Chérif told me more about organic wines and I am anxious to try them. They are often unfiltered and don't have and strange additives that some wines have to make them stronger, but takes away from the pure taste of the wine. One I can't wait to get is from Louis Julian. The winery is actually in this region! I also tried a local, amber beer on tap. It was extremely refreshing and crisp. There are a lot of natural springs water sources here that contain water from the mountains, so I think this attribute made the beer taste superb!

I went to the markey again on Saturday with Nowko. I saw some familiar British people who are here now living in their summer homes. For the first time, Ja-Ja brought fava beans, red currents, and a different type of baby squash. She brought more eggs, green beans, raspberries, and squash. The eggs, green beans, and strawberries are very popular here. I got some complements on ly French, but most people like to bring up that I have an English accent. I like to correct them by saying that I have an American accent, thank you very much.

It's probably going to rain again tomorrow, so I'm not sure if we will continue getting more hay from the other fields. We already have about 200 bundles or haystacks, but there a plenty more fields to go! As I already said, though, there is always something to do on the farm. Maybe I'll get to watch a movie if it rains a lot, hehe. They have a lot of Disney movies I would like to watch, yeah!

I miss you all and hope everyone had a spectacular Father's Day weekend! Bon fete! (Have a great holiday!)